In 2018, Weezer released their cover of Toto’s hit song “Africa,” a move sparked by a fan’s viral tweet. A 14-year-old fan had urged Weezer’s lead singer, Rivers Cuomo, to record the song with the message, “@RiversCuomo it’s about time you bless the rains down in Africa.” The cover quickly became a hit, charting at No. 51 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reaching No. 1 on the Alternative Songs chart.
Now, more than six years later, Toto guitarist Steve Lukather has spoken out about Weezer’s version and his relationship with Cuomo. During a recent interview on KLOS’s “New & Approved” radio show, Lukather revealed that he is unsure how Cuomo really feels about the song. He said, “I don’t know about him loving the song, man.” Lukather added, “I think he did it to take the piss out of it, and it blew up in his face. Now, he has to play it every night.”
Despite Lukather’s attempts to connect with Cuomo, their relationship never became close. “I tried to reach out to this guy and be friendly, and then it just got weird,” Lukather explained. He added, “I don’t want to get into it, but peace and love. It was good for them, it was good for us.”
Weezer’s cover of “Africa” appeared on their 2019 album, The Teal Album, which features covers of other popular songs like TLC’s “No Scrubs” and A-ha’s “Take on Me.” After the success of the track, Cuomo shared that his inspiration for the arrangement came from Phil Collins. He explained that when he was young, he thought Collins’ hit song “You Can’t Hurry Love” was an original song. After discovering it was a cover, Cuomo decided to approach “Africa” in a similar way. “I got all the a capella vocals and very carefully copied the harmonies to get it as accurate as I could,” he said.
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